CCSESA NewsletterMay 2019

May 2019 Budget and Legislative Update

May is a busy month in the State Legislature. It is the month that the Governor provides updated revenue estimates for the current and budget year. Both the Senate and Assembly adopt their versions of the budget based on their respective priorities. It is also when the appropriations committees make the determination which bills will move on to be voted on the floor in each house.

Budget Update

Last week, the Senate closed out their proposed education budget. Highlights of their proposal include:

• Rejects the Governor’s special education proposal and instead proposes $200 million for Special Education Early Education Grants to provide additional funding for each child receiving Individualized Education Program (IEP) services that is also enrolled in a mainstream early education setting pursuant to their IEP. The proposal would also provide $333 million to equalize AB 602 per‑student funding rates to the 90th percentile of existing rates.
• Provides $1 billion in one-time funds for relief to school districts related to increased CalPERS contribution costs, to the May Revise amount of $3.150 billion for CalSTRS cost relief. This amount is available over two years.
• Provides $100 million in additional ongoing Proposition 98 funding to increase the daily per pupil rate for the After School Education & Safety Program (ASES).
• Provides $18 million over three years to support the Charter Accountability Resource and Support Network (CARSNet).

The Assembly closed out their proposed education budget this week.  Highlights of their proposal include:

• Rejects the Governor’s special education proposal and like the Senate, the Assembly proposes $333 million to equalize special education funding rates to the 90th percentile. However, the Assembly provides $260 million is provided to add four-year olds to the AB 602 formula.
• Provides $372 million above the May Revise amount for the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) for school districts and charter schools. This funding effectively increases the LCFF cost-of-living adjustment from 3.26 percent to 3.88 percent.
• Provides $1.5 billion in one-time funds for relief to school districts related to increased CalPERS contribution costs. Specifically, $350 million is provided to pay down employer contributions rates in 2019-20 and 2020-21 ($175 million each year) and $1.15 billion is paid toward the employer’s long term unfunded liability. This is in addition to the May Revise amount of $3.150 for CalSTRS cost relief.
• Eliminates the K-12 Strong Workforce program administered by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and shifts the funding, $150 million, into the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant program (CTEIG). This raises the funding for CTEIG to $300 million.

Now that both houses have closed out their proposed budgets, the Senate and Assembly will convene the Legislative budget conference committee.  During the first two weeks of June, the Governor and Senate and Assembly leadership will finalize a budget to be approved and sent to the Governor.  The Constitution requires that the Legislature submit their budget to the Governor by June 15^th.

Legislative Update

Over 1,000 bills were listed on the “Suspense Files” for the Senate and Assembly Appropriation Committees.  The Suspense File represents a list of bills with an annual cost of more than $150,000. Suspense File bills are considered at one hearing after the May Revise when the Appropriation committee has an updated estimate of available revenue.

The suspense file is traditionally a point in the legislative schedule where many legislative proposals are stopped.  Among those that failed this month on the suspense file was SB 585, which would have required the development of a plan to unify all school districts in California.

Certainly, the education bills that have been subject to the most debate this year are those related to charter schools.  AB 1505 (O’Donnell), AB 1506 (McCarty), 1507 (Smith) and SB 756 (Durazo) have all been passed the Appropriations Committee and will continue through the legislative process.

For information on CCSESA’s Legislative Positions, click here.

CCSESA Arts Update

On May 15th arts leaders representing county offices of education across the state attended the CCSESA Arts Learning Colloquium at the Crocker Art Museum co-sponsored by CCSESA Arts Initiative and the Curriculum and Instruction Steering Committee (CISC).

Aileen Allison Zarea, Letty Kraus, and Jack Mitchell from the California Department of Education (CDE) and Pat Wayne from CREATE CA also attended. Dr. Gary Waddel (Santa Clara County Office of Education) facilitated a session focused on strategic directions for 2019-20. Participants learned about the Crocker Art Museum’s galleries and programs and toured the exhibits during the lunch break.

CCSESA honored two “heroes for arts education”: Shannon Wilkins (Los Angeles County Office of Education) and Hamish Tyler (Monterey County Office of Education) who will both be retiring at the end of June. Regional Arts Leads of the CISC/Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) subcommittee gave presentations highlighting substantive ways they are building access for arts education in their regions. Steve Venz, VAPA Coordinator for Orange County Department of Education, closed the session with a group arts education activity.